


If at First You Don't Succeed Try the Best of Three

by brokenglassesneonlights



Category: GARO: Makai no Hana
Genre: First Date, Fluff, Multi, OT3, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 16:57:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8900401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenglassesneonlights/pseuds/brokenglassesneonlights
Summary: It's hard enough to ask someone out on your first date, but what about asking two of them?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ozuttly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozuttly/gifts).



> I wrote this for ozuttly for the Another Toku Holiday Special exchange. I hope you enjoy it!

One of the disadvantages of being a Makai Knight was that with the constant threat of Horrors looming over you, it was easy to miss out on normal experiences like your first date. Raiga planned to change that.

The first step was to ask and make sure both of them _wanted_ to go on a date with him. He thought Mayuri was likely to say yes. Crow, probably less likely, but he didn’t seem like he would object to Mayuri being there too. Raiga could ask Mayuri right now if he wanted to, and then arrange to meet Crow somewhere and talk. It was probably best to decide what they were going to on their date first. Then he would have something to invite them to, increasing the chances it would really happen rather than everyone just talking about it.

Making a list seemed like a good place to start. Raiga took out a notebook and started writing down the first ideas that came to mind.

 _“Dinner”_ – the obvious one. Gonza could arrange a nice dinner at home, but that would mean asking him to help. Raiga had grown up with Gonza, of course, and Gonza wasn’t oblivious to Raiga’s feelings for Crow and Mayuri. He had tried to not-so-subtly suggest several times that Raiga make things official with one or the other – but not both.

 _“Cinema”_ – not the best idea. Mayuri wasn’t great at following the plot of movies.

 _“Ice skating”_ – Raiga had never actually been ice skating. He had only seen skating dates in dramas and such, and he wasn’t sure that anyone actually did this in the real world. Mayuri might have been good at it but he crossed it off his list anyway.

 _“Going to a museum or art gallery or something”_ – Mayuri was usually interested in human curiosities. Raiga searched online and found that an acclaimed exhibition of outsider art would be open for the next two weeks. According to the website, “outsider art” meant that the artists were untrained, or people considered to be on the fringes of society. That seemed like it would appeal to Crow, too. The only problem was that museum or gallery buildings were like magnets to Horrors. Raiga had encountered them there at least three or four times, and he knew his parents had met after such an incident. Gonza and Rei had both told him the story at different times, although Rei’s version came with slightly more graphic details.  

If Rei hadn’t disappeared to look for Raiga’s parents, he might have helped to plan the date. His suggestion would have been to take them to a bar, which Raiga would have had to say no to, but at least it might have been slightly less awkward than turning to Gonza. There were other friends of his father, of course. Raiga just wasn’t as close to any of them as he’d been to Rei. After a couple of minutes’ thought, he decided to try calling Leo.

“Hello, it’s Leo. I’m sorry I can’t come to the phone. I’m either on Senate business, or observing my duty as a Makai Knight and Priest. Please leave a message after the tone. Have a lovely day!”

Raiga hung up, feeling just a little bit silly. Leo was a good guy, someone Raiga’s parents had trusted very much. He’d be there for Raiga, if Raiga asked, but you _couldn’t_ really ask a senior Senate official to step in and help you with your love life.

There was Tsubasa, whom Raiga didn’t quite feel comfortable asking about something so personal. There were Jabi and Rekka, who had been married long enough that they should have had some words of wisdom for him, and were also travelling right now. After half an hour or so of worrying about it, Raiga gave up. He would have to ask Gonza for two things: a snack, and advice about Mayuri and Crow.

Gonza beamed. “Master Raiga has finally decided to confess to Miss Mayuri!”

“Mayuri _and Crow_ ,” said Raiga, emphasizing the last word, and tried to cover his embarrassment by popping one of Gonza’s perfectly turned out rice balls into his mouth.

Gonza raised his eyebrows slightly, “Both of them? At the same time?”

“Yes.”

After a moment of silence, Gonza said, “I see. Had you asked Miss Mayuri and Master Crow for their views about such an arrangement?”

“I _want_ to ask them,” said Raiga. “I just don’t know how. I just wanted to take them on a nice date, and then maybe –”

“And what would they consider to be ‘a nice date?’”

Raiga took a moment to pause and calm himself down. “I don’t know. I thought we might go to an art exhibition and then have dinner here. Would that be OK?”

“Ah.” Gonza was silent for a moment. Raiga expected a speech about why the whole thing was a terrible idea, but then Gonza said “I remember the first time I prepared dinner for your parents when your mother came here. She and your father would be delighted to know that you have found two people to love. I would be honored to help you prepare for the event.”

“Thank you,” said Raiga.

His throat tightened a little at the mention of his parents. If he could have one wish, it would certainly have been to see them. He wanted to know whether they would do the usual parent-like things, if his mother would be emotional at the thought of her child’s first date, if his father would smile at Mayuri and give Crow a stern lecture about respect for the other two.  Of course, none of these reactions would have happened unless Mayuri and Crow agreed to the date first. It was probably better to take care of that detail first before worrying about anything else.

 

There were candles in the holders. The table was set. Dinner was being prepared. Raiga checked over everything one last time so he could start to think about actually getting ready to go out with Mayuri and Crow. Mayuri was trailing after Raiga, glancing around with no particular interest in anything. He jolted as she picked up one of the pretty folded napkins he’d arranged in the glasses on the tables.

“All is well, Master Raiga,” said Gonza, with a chuckle. “Please be aware of the time. Master Crow is due to arrive presently.”

Crow came to the front door exactly ten minutes early, and then stood in front of one of the downstairs mirrors, fiddling with his hair. Raiga glanced at his watch.

“Get moving,” said Mayuri. “You’re making us late.”

Crow glowered. It wasn’t the ideal start to the date, but Raiga smiled at Mayuri. He felt that having her around might rein in Crow a little, and vice-versa. They didn’t necessarily have to be close to each other, as long as they were content to both be in a relationship with him – but he hoped they _would_ be closer, eventually. There were a lot of good qualities he saw in each of them, and it would mean a lot to him if they could begin to see some of those same qualities in each other.

Raiga paid at the door for all three of them to get into the exhibition, and picked up a brochure of the exhibits. Mayuri took one, looked at the cover, and then discarded it into a vase they were passing by.

“You’re not supposed to do that,” said Raiga. Naturally, she had already gone over to look at something else, and wasn’t listening to him.

He tried to direct Mayuri and Crow around the room and encourage them to look and discuss without touching anything. Some of the works on display were genuinely beautiful and intricate. Raiga was glad he’d come to see them, and even more glad that no one had seen him almost throw a tissue away into a cylindrical thing that he’d thought was a trash can. He inspected a series of pictures in thick swathes of overlaid chalk. They were all in very bright colours: reds, oranges, yellows, pinks. The sign next to the exhibit informed him that the artist had begun producing works whilst in custody for multiple arson offences, and was due to open her first international exhibit in New York next year – if her parole went ahead as planned.

He’d lost sight of the other two and was just looking for them when he heard “Hey, you. You can’t sit on that.”

Raiga turned around at once. A security guard had intervened to pull Mayuri away from one of the exhibits. It looked like one of those little cars that children can ride at fairgrounds, but with its headlights painted to look like sinister eyes, and red paint splattered all over it. (A quick glance at the sign told him that this represented the artist’s belief that cars were killing the environment.)

Mayuri fixed her gaze on the security guard. “Of course I can. It’s a toy car.”

“No, you can’t –” Raiga said.

As he moved towards her, he heard a soft “ _Raiga_ …” from Zaruba, and a louder “Hey, Crow!” from Oruva. There was definitely something strange about that guard. Raiga held up his Madou Lighter, just as Crow did the same.

The Horror lunged forward. Mayuri sprang into action, sending an ornate clay pot crashing to the ground and shattering.

This _really_ wasn’t how Raiga had intended to spend his date.

 

It was another five hours before they finally sat down to dinner.

Raiga was fairly confident that the museum wasn’t going to hold him liable for most of the exhibit’s artworks being destroyed. Even if they had, it didn’t matter. The Horror was sealed, the town temporarily safe again, and Mayuri and Crow were OK. Raiga’s dinner plans might not be but he knew Gonza would fix something for them to eat anyway.

When the three of them reached the house, Gonza was sitting on the front porch with Anna. Their cheeks had a pinkish tint and they were both holding glasses, which Raiga suspected had been filled several times.

“Good evening, Master Raiga, Miss Mayuri, Master Crow. Did you enjoy the exhibition?” said Gonza.

“I’m sorry we’re late –” Raiga began.

“I knew something must have happened whilst you were away. It is a pity, but all is not lost. I will prepare your dinner.”

Gonza disappeared into the house, and Mayuri took his seat.

“Ah, Mayuri, you look beautiful,” said Anna.

Mayuri glanced down at herself. “I look the same as always.” That was true. She was wearing the same dress and hadn’t done her hair differently or put on makeup. Raiga didn’t care. He agreed with Anna – Mayuri looked wonderful, as she always did.

“Love makes everybody beautiful,” said Anna with a little smile. Crow raised his eyebrows, and Mayuri turned towards Raiga. She seemed to understand now that saying _Are you kidding me_? aloud wouldn’t be polite, but she could still express it well enough without words.

Raiga said, “Let’s go for a walk” and led them back down the path to the house.

The sky was almost perfectly clear, with a lot of stars shining overhead. It was the perfect setting for the end to their evening, although they still had dinner to come. Crow took Raiga's fingers, Mayuri leaned against his shoulder, and they stood together looking up at the sky.

“When are we going back to the museum?” said Mayuri.

“I don’t know,” said Raiga. The answer was probably never, but he was going to take it as a positive sign that she wanted to do this again.

“We can always go somewhere else,” said Crow. “What about ice-skating?”

Raiga smiled, bright and warm, and watched his expression echo on the faces of the two people he cared about most in the world. If they both wanted a second date, he could consider the first one a success, despite everything -

“Master Raiga,” Gonza was coming down the path towards them. “It seems that I neglected to close the refrigerator door earlier this evening. I’m afraid your profiteroles will not be edible.”

\- Perhaps not.


End file.
